Just in time for summer, TCM and Running Press offer John Malahy's delectably readable Summer Movies: 30 Sun-Drenched Classics. Featuring summertime-set films dating from the '20s (Lonesome/1928) to the present day (Call Me by Your Name/2017), it's a wide-ranging collection, detailed, photo-packed and filled with tantalizing backstory.
In his quest to "reflect the full range of how summer has been depicted on screen," Malahy explores films as diverse as the Bergman art house classic, Smiles of a Summer Night (1955), and the Harold Ramis pure-'80s farce, Caddyshack (1980). Naturally included are "beach movies" like Gidget (1959) and Beach Blanket Bingo (1965) as well as the seaside thriller that would become the first ever "summer blockbuster," Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) - the inspiration for this book.
While this collection is Malay's own "subjective sampling," he encourages readers to continue to explore beyond his book. Along with each of the 30 entries, a second summer movie is recommended for a "double feature" experience, and a "vacation inspiration" is also suggested. For example, Key Largo (1948), among the primary entries and a film set in the Florida Keys, is double-billed with Body Heat (1981), the steamy neo-noir set in South Florida. The vacation inspiration for Key Largo highlights the area's diving attractions as well as the fact that the steamboat from another Bogart vehicle, The African Queen (1951), is currently moored there.
Moondoggie and friends
In his foreward to Malahy's guide, Leonard Maltin travels down Memory Lane, remembering his own early experiences with summer movies beginning with the time he saw The Parent Trap "the first week it played in a nearby New Jersey theater." Maltin's recollections brought to mind memories of my own. There was the summer long ago when I first saw Gidget at a Saturday matinee at the Ritz Theater in my hometown in Southern California. It was a few years after Gidget's original release and I remember how much I'd anticipated seeing it and how enchanted I was with the freewheeling beach scene it depicted, with "Moondoggie," and with the sport of surfing, which was on the cusp of becoming very, very popular. I also remember a hot summer night in the distant past when I went with an older cousin and his family - again to the Ritz Theater - to see Disney's Summer Magic (1963). It starred Hayley Mills, Dorothy McGuire, Burl Ives and Deborah Walley (future Gidget!) and told the story of a turn-of-the-century family making a new life in a small town. I was charmed. A summer or two later, word of mouth began to spread on a movie about surfing that was then being shown in auditoriums and other small venues. It was called The Endless Summer and in Southern California at that time it became the definition of "cool." As I've said more than once, this is an eclectic compendium. Commingling on its pages are the likes of Breaking Away (1979), Dirty Dancing (1987), Do the Right Thing (1989), The Graduate (1967), Monsieur Hulot's Holiday (1953), Moon Over Miami (1941), Moonrise Kingdom (2012), On Golden Pond (1981), Picnic (1955), The Parent Trap (1961), A Room with a View (1985), Summertime (1955) and Summer Stock (1950). It's kinda wacky, but entirely engaging and a lot of fun. Which is what makes Summer Movies: 30 Sun-Drenched Classics such great summer reading for classic film fans and anyone with an interest in the films of summer. It will probably inspire other readers, as it has me, to consider what films would be on their own A-list of sun-drenched summer movies. A few have already popped into my head, American Graffiti (1973), Body Heat (1981), Say Anything (1989), Summer Magic (1963), Summer of '42 (1971), and I'm wondering if Roman Holiday (1953) took place during the summertime in Rome...
